Post pictures of your woodpile/splitting area

[Cowboy254]

yeah its crazy hard heavy wood if i swing an axe at these rounds will just bounce back

https://www.thegreenyard.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Firewood-Properties1.pdf
Density Density is the amount of space a mass of firewood occupies, the denser the wood the less space a given mass takes up, or the greater a particular volume of firewood weighs. For example Sugar Gum is about twice as dense as Radiata Pine, so a cubic metre of Sugar Gum weighs approximately 1070kg, while a cubic metre of Pine weighs only about 512kg

Yes, that's dense-ometer table I use for local species. Believe I might have posted it here once or twice . Eventually I bought the book that has most of the data in it that that table came from - 'Wood in Australia' by Keith Bootle. Worth getting if you're really interested.

Our densest species where I am is southern blue gum at around 900kg/m, and I do burn some, but mostly I prefer peppermint at around 800kg/m (blue gum is more ashy). I also like burning a couple of white gum species like manna gum and candlebark that are around 750kg/m but burn very nicely. Density is not all it's cracked up to be, it's all a compromise. I have some yellow and grey box and it is fine for long burns and overnighters but peppermint will also get through the night. I have some yellow box in the shed that was cut two years ago and is still wet in the middle where peppermint that is cut in October will be ready to burn by May. If I had to travel to get wood, I would take the higher BTU box species but since I don't, peppermint is just fine. It also has very little ash so it gets points that way too.

 

[derwoodii]

my fav OZ wood is Blackwood wattle Acacia melanoxylon, sure not as good heat as some gums but its easy to handle easy to hand splits dry fast grows fast

 

[Philbert]

I like those vertical Aussie Chopper splitters.

yup me too real back saver as some have log lifters fitted

We have vertical splitters here: mostly horizontal splitters that pivot vertically, but I don't see any in the US market that split on a table like those. *Except for some 'suicide wheel splitters'!


Is it a problem to split rounds that have not been cut square and flat on the ends?

Philbert

 

[thewoodlands]

I split two more loads and almost finished the stack, I never reset the t-post on the right side of the stack so I'll take some of the Ash off of that end and reset the stakes near the end of the splits.

I did get the next stack ready (two face cord) and then moved the splitter out of the gully to a new area. I loaded up the tub with a load of smaller rounds with the intent on s/s them but the wind gust were pretty good so I called it a day.

Picture 0331 is the splitter beam after I cleaned it off with some WD-40 Degreaser, 0332 is the first load, 0333 is the flagpole from the stacking area, 0334 & 0335 is the punky Cherry that is in the middle the gully I don't think I'll touch, 0336 are some damaged birch that need felling (bent over) , 0338 is a load of rounds heading out to the new splitting area at 0339.

 

[derwoodii]

We have vertical splitters here: mostly horizontal splitters that pivot vertically, but I don't see any in the US market that split on a table like those. *Except for some 'suicide wheel splitters'!


Is it a problem to split rounds that have not been cut square and flat on the ends?

Philbert

i should inform the manufacturer to patent import sell the to US market with low OZ dollar 65 cent s vs 1 US buck you could buy cheaply

unbalanced chunks do need some effort to stabilize but it rarely much more than bit of wood choke

 

[Cowboy254]

I split two more loads and almost finished the stack, I never reset the t-post on the right side of the stack so I'll take some of the Ash off of that end and reset the stakes near the end of the splits.

I did get the next stack ready (two face cord) and then moved the splitter out of the gully to a new area. I loaded up the tub with a load of smaller rounds with the intent on s/s them but the wind gust were pretty good so I called it a day.

Picture 0331 is the splitter beam after I cleaned it off with some WD-40 Degreaser, 0332 is the first load, 0333 is the flagpole from the stacking area, 0334 & 0335 is the punky Cherry that is in the middle the gully I don't think I'll touch, 0336 are some damaged birch that need felling (bent over) , 0338 is a load of rounds heading out to the new splitting area at 0339.

Beautiful spot you have there, it's easy to see why you spend so much time out doing this stuff. IIRC you don't burn wood inside for heat? Or did I get that wrong?

 

[thewoodlands]

Beautiful spot you have there, it's easy to see why you spend so much time out doing this stuff. IIRC you don't burn wood inside for heat? Or did I get that wrong?

We do burn wood for heat inside since 2008-09, we have a Lopi Liberty.

Thanks for the compliment on our lot, our house is on 5.5 acres and just down the road we have 136 acres. We were very luck to get the 136 which is where I usually get our firewood.

Since EAB hit our county over a year ago north of us by 50 plus miles, I started felling the Ash.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Since EAB hit our county over a year ago north of us by 50 plus miles

What is EAB?

 

[swm63]

What is EAB?

Emerald Ash Borer - Killing pretty much all Ash in America.

 

[thewoodlands]

Emerald Ash Borer - Killing pretty much all Ash in America.

If I remember right, it's not killing the Mountain Ash.

 

[mountainguyed67]

 

[thewoodlands]

Since the area where these rounds was pretty tight, I decided to haul the rounds out (3 loads) to the new splitting area and stack it.

Attached are some pictures, near the end of my stacking the wife came out with our dog (Australian Kelpie) we rescued from a kill shelter in another state through Helping Hounds out of Syracuse about three years ago.

Once this last stack is finished. we'll have 53 face cord up.

https://www.helpinghoundsdogrescue.org/

 

[cat10ken]

EAB isn't killing the prickly ash either. Wish it would.

 

[treebilly]

Mountain ash isn’t a true ash tree. At least that’s the reasoning I was given. Different genus or something.

 

[svk]

EAB larva supposedly die at -40. We don’t have it (yet). It’s about 100 miles south of here around Lake Superior where it doesn’t get quite as cold due to lake effect.

 

[thewoodlands]

Mountain ash isn’t a true ash tree. At least that’s the reasoning I was given. Different genus or something.

I think that is what the NYS DEC told me too.

 

[thewoodlands]

I split two of the ash trees up top that I felled a few days back.

Picture 0350 is getting setup on the first ash (nice out) 0352 is the ash split,0353 is getting setup on the second ash,0354 it's split and I took 1.5 loads off the hill to finish the stack which was all the splits from the first ash.

It was a crazy weather day, we started out with some sun and some good wind gust with snow, the trees were talking.

I think that I posted we had 53 face cord up, it's actually 55. The area I'm stacking has 8 face cord stacked but will hold 12 so I'm thinking I'll fell a few more ash and go for the another 4 face.

 

[TheDarkLordChinChin]

Jesus it was 20 Celsius here today!
Been moving loads of willow, pictures to come.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Jesus it was 20 Celsius here today!

It‘s 36 Celsius here right now.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Been moving loads of willow, pictures to come.

Is your camera still set a month ahead? I saved a few of your woods pictures. They keep getting shuffled to the bottom, because the date they were taken hasn’t come yet.